That is to say, Harsch has had little time to get ready for his debut with the Blades — his newest Western Hockey League team — on Friday night.

Harsch arrived in Saskatoon late Wednesday night after being acquired earlier that day from the Seattle Thunderbirds. He got into Saskatoon just in time for a Blades practice Thursday morning.

He’s expected to be in the line-up Friday when the Blades host the new-look Regina Pats. Game-time is 7 p.m. at SaskTel Centre.

“Great team, great facility,” said Harsch when asked Thursday about his first impression of his new team.

“These guys are in a good spot right now in the standings to make a push in the playoffs and I think we’ve got the guys to do it in here.”

The Blades, who are second in the WHL’s East Division with a 23-11-5-0 record, now have four games over the next five days, including three straight starting Friday. They’ll play six games in nine days.

Nothing like jumping right into the rush for Harsch. Talk about activating your newest D-man.

Harsch wasn’t expecting to be dealt by the Thunderbirds, who won a WHL championship title two years ago.

“I was a little surprised,” said Harsch of being traded. “I mean, I know in the past that they (Thunderbirds) weren’t really open to trading at the deadline, but it’s exciting. I’ve never been traded before. It’s a great place to come to.”

Ashton, a third-round pick by the Blades in 2016, has one assist in nine games during his rookie season. He had often been a healthy scratch.

Harsch may be a new Blades but he’s no stranger to Blades head coach Mitch Love.

“For myself, I’m real familiar with Reece, having seen him plenty of times — probably more than what I would have liked in the U.S. Division (when Love was an assistant coach with the Everett Silvertips) some nights,” quipped Love.

“He’s a veteran guy who’s been in the league. He’s bringing 25 more games of playoff experience to our roster. We’ve added 90 games of playoff experience to a group that had very little with only 30 other games of playoff experience, so that was something that was in the back of our minds as coaching staff and management to add to that group and Colin (Priestner) and Hilty (Steve Hildebrand) and Dan (Tencer) have done a good job.

“That’s significant and I think it’s imperative if you want to be a playoff team in the Western Hockey League.”

The 6-foot-3, 198-pound Harsch has 149 WHL regular-season games and 25 playoff games under his belt. During that span, he has scored 15 goals and 47 points to go along with 77 penalty minutes.

“I wasn’t really sure where I was going to go so I was pretty glad to come to Saskatoon,” said Harsch. “Lots of great guys here and a great spot in the standings. It was weird to see Love, as well, on the other bench. It’s different.”

Harsch, a Grande Prairie, Alta., native, was selected by Seattle in the eighth round of the 2014 WHL Bantam Draft. This season, he has two goals and eight assists, plus 25 penalty minutes, in 28 games played.

Harsch is being reunited with former T-Bird teammates Brandon Schuldhaus and Dorrin Luding.

“It does make it easier,” admitted Harsch. “I played with Schuldy when I was 17 and I played with Lud’s last year for the whole year so it’s good to see familiar faces here.

“I was partners with (Schuldhaus) a little bit, right when I came into the league. He kind of showed me the ropes a little bit. He was a good mentor for me.”

As for a potential partner on defence, Harsch says he believes he can play with anybody. At Thursday’s practice, he spent time with Blades rookie Aidan De La Gorgendiere.

“We move the puck well,” assessed Harsch. “I thought we played pretty good. He’s a good hockey player. He’s young and a really good kid. We’d be a solid D pairing.”

Harsch brings additional playoff experience to the Blades, who are on the verge of making the post-season for the first time in years.

He expects to bring that experience, leadership and a “solid two-way game” to the Blades.

“I think we’ll be a really good contender,” said Harsch, who has already working the X’s and O’s with Blades’ defence coach Ryan Marsh.

“I think my two-way game will be a good fit here.”

He is seen as another key piece to the puzzle once he settles in.

“It’s pretty hard to come here and learn everything right away, especially when we have a game (Friday) but they’re going to do a good job of that,” said Harsch. “Everybody’s been great, helping me out and talking to me. It’s going to be a big weekend for us.”

To make room for Harsch, the Blades also traded veteran-man Seth Bafaro the Vancouver Giants in exchange for a fifth round draft pick in 2021.

Bafaro was originally drafted by the Tri-City Americans in 2015 and played 31 games there before being acquired by the Blades in July of 2017. He appeared in 85 regular-season games with the Blades. He had four goals and three assists, and 12 penalty minutes, in 27 games this season.

The Blades have now traded away four D-men since the start of the season with the departures Bafaro, Ashton, Jake Kustra and Jackson Caller.

Although Bafaro, Kustra and Caller had been pretty much regulars last season, the Blades have gotten older and more experienced as a whole.

“Any time you add veteran defencemen to your group, whether it’s myself or Barry Trotz behind the bench, they’re going to be good players for you and understand the position especially with their experience in the league and that’s what we’ve done with the acquisitions of Schuldhaus, Kneen and obviously Harsch,” said Love. “It also helps your young players come along. It helps in their development.

“(Defence) is an important part of the game. If you want to be a good offensive team, you’ve got to get the puck back and our guys have done a real good job of adapting to some new systems and maybe a little different style of play. You keep adding those veteran guys who have played for some good coaches in the Western League and they bring their spice of life a little bit in terms of he way they play the game. We’ve done a good job of trying to add some of those pieces. Now we have to go to work and bring them along. There have been a lot of changes, but they have been good changes in my mind.”

DACH SIDELINED BUT EXPECTED BACK

Blades star forward Kirby Dach did not partake in Thursday’s practice but Love expects him to be in the line-up Friday.

Dach was wearing a brace and limping somewhat Thursday. “It was more of a maintenance day for him,” said Love. “He’s a kid who’s played a lot of hockey of late. We’re going through a stretch of hockey with three games in three nights. We felt it was time to give him a little rest.”

After Friday’s game, the Blades head to P.A. to play the Raiders, who are expected to have Ian Scott and Brett Leason back in the line-up. The Blades then host the Brandon Wheat Kings on Sunday afternoon and Harsch’s former Seattle team on Tuesday.

“We’ve got a pretty big weekend here, three in three against division opponents and all three we’ve had our troubles with this year,” said Love.

BLADES SIGN OZAR

The Blades have signed 2002-born defenceman Alex Ozar to a standard WHL player agreement.

“Alex is right-shot defender who plays the game with a very high hockey intelligence,” Blades director of scouting, Dan Tencer, said in a release. “He’s able to quickly process the game and has the ability to execute plays at a high pace in all situations. His mobility and play with the puck are both significant assets for him and he has shown substantial development over the last season and a half.”

Ozar, who is captain of the Prince Albert Midget AAA Mintos, has five goals and 21 points and 60 penalty minutes in 26 games this season.

He is the fifth player from Saskatoon’s 2017 WHL Bantam Draft class to sign a contract. Ozar was selected in the fifth round, 109th overall.

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